Two Alberto Giacometti Drawings Presumed Lost Are Uncovered in a London Home

A close-up of Alberto Giacometti's signature on one of two recently-discovered drawings.Photo: Courtesy of Cheffins

Fans of Alberto Giacometti's spindly nudes, get your wallets ready: Two recently discovered drawings by the Swiss artist will be sold at Cheffins, the Cambridge, U.K., auction house, this fall. The pieces in question, both pencil sketches signed "Alberto Giacometti 1947," were discovered in the collection of the late London antiques dealer Eila Grahame. Both are studies of human forms, containing nude figures and heads. They are titled Têtes (recto) and Nu debout (verso). Both have been authenticated by the Comite Giacometti in Paris and registered in the Alberto Giacometti database.

Têtes (recto).

Photo: Courtesy of Cheffins

The discovery was quite thrilling, by the sound of it. "We became aware of the drawings’ possible existence during a preliminary inspection of Eila Grahame's effects, but they were presumed long since sold or lost," explains Cheffins director Martin Millard. "We eventually found them buried under piles of dust-covered antiques, paintings, and drawings. These drawings have never before been seen by the public, and we are expecting them to be of interest to museums and galleries around the world as well as individual collectors."

Nu debout (verso).

The Giacometti pieces weren't the only gems in Grahame's collection. The dealer, who long operated a beloved shop on Kensington Church Street, also had an unseen Picasso sketch and several works by Frans Anton von Scheidel. Her two Giacometti pieces will go on sale as part of Cheffins's October 12 auction "The Residue of Vision—Art & Design from 1860."

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